- Details
- By Tribal Business News Staff
- Policy and Law
A federal judge sentenced a second defendant to six years and six months in prison for helping divert more than $4.7 million from the Oglala Sioux Tribe.
Patrick Ross, 56, of Porcupine, S.D., received the same 78-month sentence imposed in June on his co-defendant Buffy Redfish. U.S. District Judge Camela C. Theeler also ordered Ross to serve three years of supervised release, federal prosecutors said.
Ross and Redfish were each ordered to pay $4,744,415.36 in restitution arising from the same $4.7 million loss to the tribe.
From 2017 to May 2024, the pair diverted fee checks collected from contractors by the tribe’s Tribal Employment Rights Office, or TERO, according to prosecutors. The checks were intended for the tribe’s general fund, but were deposited into an account Ross opened to carry out the scheme.
Prosecutors said Ross and Redfish split the money and used it to buy homes and vehicles.
Ross, a former employee of the TERO and an Oglala Sioux citizen, was convicted of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, three counts of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering. Redfish, a Gila River Indian Community citizen who worked for the office, received the same convictions.
The TERO administers tribal hiring and contracting preferences for businesses operating on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Ross was taken into federal custody after his Aug. 24 sentencing.
